How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - "Coffee Break" scene (deleted footage of film adaptation of musical; 1967)

How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was a successful 1961 Broadway musical. It was based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Shephard Mead.

Among the popular revivals and tours, it was adapted into a major motion picture in 1967. Like most musical to movie adaptations, they dropped a few songs. Among those were mainly the female-led numbers such as "Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm" and "Paris Original".

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The Scene

One of the dropped songs was the ensemble number "Coffee Break" lead by Frump and Smitty. However, instead of just scrapping the song and forgetting about it, the song was recorded and the scene was filmed. It took place near the beginning of the movie, right after a man comes in with coffee and donuts and says "Coffee Break." One of the secretaries says "It's about time!" and then the musical number would start. However, in the theatrical release all the way up to the 2017 Blu-Ray, she says "It's about time!" and then immediately cuts to the next scene.

The song itself is actually included on the film's soundtrack meaning the scene was most likely scrapped late in production. [1] The reasoning for cutting it was apparently to speed up the movie's pacing. An eyewitness account from someone who has been searching for the scene says that they've seen it, but that claim hasn't been confirmed, a still from the scene is also on the Laserdisc cover. [2]